Japan… the culture shock level 2

Granted, with all surface weirdness, the anime, their weird porn, ninjas and samurais, fashion, electronics, one gets hit with culture shock like a migraine. But, as I live here, I am learning a lot of things I didnt really encounter as a tourist before. These are the ones I can think of now, but there are so many more.

GYM:
I walked into the gym and immediately realized that worker was looking at me funny… what could i be doing wrong? I was clean, wore sports outfit, I didnt have a tail… As so many times before i started looking around for clues. Clue: I didnt take off my shoes. Even though I was wearing running shoes, i had to bring another set to wear inside the gym. Well, for $2.40 I was able to rent a pair of in-gym-only shoes (i was shocked they had size 28) which I immediately had to take off before entering the dressing room.

…actually it’s a step further, you gotta take off, or change your shoes at just about every restaurant, izzakaya, hotel, massage place… the list goes on.

Money exchange:
I had to get some money changed. I came to an official $ exchange place, handed them $100 and asked for yen. They asked for my address. ???  I said that I live in a hotel, and I have no idea what the address is. I was told to go away and get the address of where I lived. I went to another $ exchange place (thinking it was a fluke… I already exchanged money 50 times up to that point), and they asked for address again.  APPARENTLY… Even though the $ exchange stands are ran by the same company, they have different rules on currency exchange from one train station to another. Some require to make a copy of the passport, some dont ask shit, some need address… meaning, if you just arrived in Japan w/o a place to stay you may be screwed.

D.U.I. (driving under influence)
This one I would love to see happen in the States… A lot. If you are caught driving drunk you get a $10,000 fine and lose your license on the spot. If you had passengers, each of them gets a $10,000 fine. If you left your friends house, he gets a $10,000 fine for letting you drive drunk. Nobody goes to jail.

Food, Drink, Cell phones & Red lights:
There are no hard rules regarding talking on a phone or eating in public transportation, but it’s strongly suggested and highly frowned upon to eat, drink, or talk on a cell phone in a train or bus. But! It seems all these rules go out the window between 7am and 8am, when everyone’s in a morning rush to get to work. Cups of coffee are all over, people are crossing the street on red light while munching on a cheeseburger. But after 10am it’s as if society’s back to going by the book. There can be no cars on the street, but people will still stand and patiently wait for the light to turn green (in Japan it’s called blue, but it’s actually green… in case you forgot).

Weed:
Smoking lands you in jail, though some people said it’s punishable by death. I have no idea what happens to sellers… maybe they get fed to Godzilla?

Cosplay:
Basically people dress up as their favorite band members (ie: vampires, zombies, and alike) or as really colorful dolls (they claim it’s not a costume… right).

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